Guard Your Heart
by ohmytheon
Summary: Riza and Roy must face the press differently after their affair comes to light, especially with an illegitimate son in tow. Their daemons, on the other hand, are not handling it as well as they could have hoped. (Prequel to "All Things Considered")


**Author's Notes:** Looks like this Super AU of mine is taking control over my brain. Who knew that one little fic could do such a thing? I'm just ecstatic that other people are as interested in this as I am! So this definitely ties in with my fic, "All Things Considered," but only because it's the only other one of my Super AU fics (Royai kid + daemon AU) and is sorta based off of a few things mentioned in it. Thank you to the person who asked me to write this! Notes on daemons at the bottom.

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my OCs.

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 **Guard Your Heart**

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"Are you ready?" Riza asked as she closed up the lunchbox.

"No!" her son shouted from his bedroom.

Riza sighed, but at least he wasn't lying. Her son very rarely lied, even when it suited him. She had to wonder where he got that from. Most likely from her, even if she had spent the first three years of his life lying about who his father was. She always told Aidan that it was better to tell the truth and she should be grateful that he took it to heart, like every other lesson.

At her feet, Wojciech laid on the ground, like a dog, and rolled his eyes up to her in amusement. Of course he thought it was funny. She glowered down at him, but it didn't seem to change his opinion. Despite the fact that they told him to basically lie about who his father was for the beginning of his life, Aidan was a terribly honest child, his daemon Atsuko even more so. They would have their hands full later on as he got older.

Eventually Aidan wandered into the living room, struggling with his raincoat, Atsuko clinging to his shoulder in the form of a baby opossum. Riza bent down to help him zip the jacket up and then flip the hood over his head. Before she stood up though, he wrapped his arms around her neck and she dissolved into a hug. Riza couldn't deny that she had not been used to physical affection before, having been starved of it by her father out of neglect and later on Roy out of necessity, but Aidan always gravitated towards her. It made her feel more wanted than she had ever felt in her life.

When she felt Wojciech's hum of approval, she glanced over and saw that Atsuko had moved over to brush against him in a wolf cub form. Unless she changed into a large animal, she was already smaller than him. The last time she tried to do that, she shifted into a baby elephant and she still managed to not reach up to his height. Wojciech was big though, big enough to protect everyone he loved. That's why he grew to the size he was, in her mind. Everyone said that he was bigger than most wolves. His size came in handy though, especially these days, though she was loathed to admit it.

"Are they going to take our pictures again?" Aidan asked miserably, his eyes dropping to the ground. Atsuko let out a whimper, slipped from Wojciech back to to her human. She shifted into a bird, flying up to his shoulder, before turning into a snake and sliding around his neck protectively.

"Not if I can help it," Wojciech proclaimed before Riza could say anything.

Aidan's eyes shined as he gazed up at her daemon. "You're so brave!"

"No," Wojciech said with a grin, "just photogenic."

Riza glanced at Wojciech. He cocked an eyebrow at her. She struggled not to sigh again. She knew what that look meant. There were two reporters hanging outside of her apartment, desperate to get a single comment from the woman that had snagged Roy Mustang into having a child with her and then hid it for over three years. Out of everyone involved, her daemon had to have been the least pleased. Neither Shula nor Roy could act out too much and Riza remained passive, which leave Wojciech to act out. She knew that it was more than likely that Shula would snap sooner or later, but as of now, her wolf daemon gathered all of the aggressive attention.

A part of her thought that Wojciech kind of liked it, considering he'd been forced to act so dormant and cool while they were in the military.

The moment Aidan reached his arms out to her, Riza picked him up. Atsuko was already hiding in his pocket as a gecko, not wanting to get splashed by the misty rain. She supposed that she should be thankful for the weather, as there may have been more people hounding her for a soundbite if it was moment she stepped outside though, Wojciech at her side, the two reporters jump at her, desperate for anything.

"Hawkeye, have you considered what you'll do now that you've been kicked out of the military?" one shouted.

Wojciech huffed, but said nothing as they made their way to the car that Roy always loaned them.

"Have you about suing General Mustang for child support for your bastard son?" the other demanded.

Riza almost gasped as Wojciech came to a sudden halt. He slowly moved his head to gaze at the man and his cat daemon. Despite the rain, the cat stood uncaringly at his side. In a moment of desperation, Riza reached out to Wojciech - _please, don't_ \- even moved to dig her fingers into the fur on his back, but he stepped away from her. She stood there, grasping Aidan tightly in her arms, and watched in horror as Wojciech walked towards the reporter and his now agitated cat daemon.

"Would you remind repeating that question?" Wojciech asked, not giving one damn about the taboo of daemons speaking to strangers. He wasn't looking at the reporter at least, focusing his golden glower on the cat hunkered at his side. The cat daemon hissed slightly, arching its back, and stepped back from Wojciech, who only had to step forward once to appear domineering.

"He…well… he obviously…" The reporter tugged at his collar as he edged himself away from Wojciech. The first reporter, who had been ignored from the get go, walked all the way back to his vehicle. He clearly knew that it was better to get out of the way of a wolf daemon than get an exclusive. "He makes more money than you."

"Aidan is my son," Riza said flatly, unable to say anything else.

She didn't depend on Roy to help her raise him. He offered her money, offered to pay for them a place to live, offered to pay for Aidan's schooling - and she always told him no. It wasn't to insult him. At the time, before their secret was known, it was to protect him. Money meant paper trails and paper trails mean to answers. Now though, it was perhaps out of stubbornness. She had made her choice when she got with him and it had resulted in Aidan. She would take care of him. He was her son. It hurt Roy, she knew, but selfishly for once, she didn't care.

The reporter, despite his better judgement, stepped forward. "But carrying a general's bastard son-"

Riza felt Wojciech lose control of himself before she saw him act out. She felt herself jerking forward as he did without meaning to, Aidan clinging to her and burying his face in her neck, as Wocjiech did. Atsuko cried out at the sudden movement. She would have to apologize later and Wojciech would feel so terribly guilty. For now though, none of that mattered, as Wojciech turned harshly on the reporter and his daemon again. She tried to stop him - opened her mouth and everything - but her wolf was already on them.

After all the times he comforted her, how he would gently lick her swollen belly when she was pregnant with Aidan, how he cuddled up next to her when she was upset or felt alone, the way he was let his tongue loll out like a dog's when he was amused, even Riza sometimes managed to forget just how terrifying Wojciech could be as a more than full-grown wolf.

Left in a stupor, Riza watched as Wojciech leaped up and tore the camera right out of the cameraman's hands. It sounded so simple in her mind. But he ripped the piece of equipment from another person, dragging it to the ground and knocking the man to the side as he ripped into it, sparking flying and wire getting tangled in his teeth. When the reporter jumped to stop him, Wojciech snarled and spit the electronic device out of his mouth before chasing after him. The man was forced to pick up his cat daemon and run at full speed, leaping into the front of his news van. Wojciech's paws slammed into the door, shutting the reporter and his daemon in tight, as he growled and mauled the door.

To the reporter and his daemon, it would look like Wojciech was trying to break into the van to attack him and his daemon. Riza knew better. She used to distraction to rush to the vehicle Roy had lended to her, buckling Aidan into his car seat and then slipping inside to start it. If he truly wanted to, Wojciech could've easily broken the window of the van and attacked the occupants inside. He was merely distracting them.

When Riza pulled up beside the van and leaned over to open the passenger door, Wojciech stood up to put his paws on the door and grin manically into the van. That wolf grin of his scared everyone and sometimes even managed to unsettle Shula and Roy. "Call my boy that one more time and I won't be so kind," he warned almost cheerfully before pulling away and darting into the passenger seat next to Riza.

As they drove away, Wojciech feeling more than pleased with himself, Riza tried to breathe. It was difficult to keep control of her own emotions when Wojciech ran so wild like that. He only did so when Aidan was concerned. Even when she had been in trouble, he almost always managed to keep his cool. Having a child, it seemed, a little cub, changed things for the both of them. Wojciech glanced into the backseat where Aidan sat, holding onto Atsuko in a fox form in his lap.

"They're going to say you're out of control," Riza informed him.

"Let them," Wojciech responded proudly, turning to look out the window. "The alpha always protects their pack."

Fondness flowed through their bond as Riza drove. She could not deny how grateful she was for Wojciech baring the brunt of the public eye upon her and Roy's affair coming to light. After all, back when they had been mere teenagers, hadn't he and Shula been the ones to push the two of them together? Even when they had known it was a bad idea, the two daemons had conspired to get Roy and Riza together in any fashion. None of them could have anticipated that it would climax with a child in secret. And yet Riza couldn't have asked for a better daemon to handle such a thing. Wojciech protected not only her, but Aidan and Atsuko as well without any complaint.

Wojciech grinned her, not that maniacal wolf grin that people feared, but the one she loved. _We're meant to protect, aren't we?_

 _Yes,_ Riza thought as she glanced at Aidan and Atsuko in the rearview mirror. _Yes we are._

In retrospect, Roy probably should've thrown himself on top of Shula and physically dragged her away the second he saw the reporter. At the time though, he had simply been too shocked to do anything.

Working without Riza and Wojciech had been strange in itself. He found himself calling out for her from his interior office, only for Havoc to poke his head inside instead, the same sheepish grin on his face. Hiroko's dog grin was more anxious, in Shula's opinion. She was trying to fill a place that was too big for her, both literally and figuratively. Roy was getting used to it, but it didn't make him any less aggravated. In fact, the more he felt like he was getting used to Riza's absence, the more Shula became agitated.

She would never admit it out loud, but Shula missed Riza and Wojciech. She wanted to cuddle up around Atsuko like a lioness would with her cub. She felt alone without them, their connection frayed at best. At least when Riza was around them, Shula felt something.

Roy fought the urge to run his fingers through his hair and looked away from her when she glanced towards him. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't miss feeling her in his mind. They couldn't afford to feel bad about that though, not when it wasn't either of their faults. He gathered his things from his office, nodded to her, and they began to walk out. Just another day at work. Instead of Riza driving them home, it would be Havoc, who was using a military vehicle, as he had lended his own to Riza.

Everything was fine - things were normal - until he suddenly found a microphone in his face and the words, "General Mustang, have you been in contact with your whore former adjutant?" were shouted at him.

Now, honestly, Roy could handle a lot of things. He'd gone through hell in war, been forced through the Gate to face Truth, had his vision unfairly taken away from him, been kept so close and yet so far away from the woman that he loved for years, watched as his own son was forced to live the first few years of his life without a public father. He could handle this as well. Riza had told him that awful things would be said about her because of the way she had taken the brunt of their breaking the anti-fraternization laws. She would be the scapegoat. She would be the pariah. He would slip away as he always did while she was covered in filth. He gritted his teeth and his hands tightened at his sides, but he could take it.

"Have you even held your bastard child?"

Without thinking, Roy forced himself to move on. He didn't even notice when Shula didn't follow him. He heard a scream of terror from behind him, not feeling a single thing, and turned around, only to find Shula straight up leaping towards the reporter. He thought his paw might have connected with the man's chest, but Roy didn't feel anything, not even as she ripped the papers and recording device out of his hands. His hare daemon scrambled out of the way, shrieking in horror, while Shula destroyed all of the equipment. Roy stood there, completely still, and watched the entire thing, not knowing what else to do.

"Say that again!" Shula roared. "Say that about either of them again!"

Finally, Roy staggered towards her. Somewhere deep down, he could sense her rage, how hot it burned, but it was so dull that he could barely feel anything. He grasped a hold of her and pulled her back from the man and his daemon, but she was so large and powerful. Sometimes, he forgot just how strong she was. If she was so inclined, she could have knocked him out with one swipe of her paws.

"Aidan is a good boy," Shula snarled while in Roy's grip, bearing her teeth ferociously, "and Riza is a good woman. Put that in your bloody article."

Using the sort of strength that was unheard of in most daemons, Shula ripped herself out of Roy's grasp and stormed away from him. She walked right past the vehicle where Havoc and Hiroko were standing. When Hiroko moved to follow her, Shula growled at her and the German Shepherd daemon halted. Roy cast an apologetic look towards to two of them as he followed his daemon. She was already further from him than what was normal, but neither Havoc nor Hiroko commented on it. Everyone on the team knew about what to mention and not mention when it came to daemons.

And Roy and Shula's severing was currently at the top of the list.

His affair with Riza's coming to light had pushed them further apart than ever before. Their relationship had become strained after the Ishval War. They could move farther from one another than most people, something his superiors commented on as well. You don't kill as many people as Roy had during the War without losing a part of your connection with your soul, after all. But after being forced through the Gate of Truth and forcibly severed against their will, things had been different. They went through bouts where they clung to one another and then drifted apart.

The whole thing with Aidan and Riza had most definitely pushed them apart, especially after her discharge from the military.

"Shula, stop!' Roy called out to her.

Typical of her, Shula didn't listen. She wasn't nearly as obedient as most military daemons. Too prideful.

"It was just a dumb reporter!' Hiroko shouted, having followed them.

Roy glanced back for a second. There was Hiroko and Havoc. They'd followed the two of them dutifully, as Riza would have done. No one wanted to admit it, but Havoc was doing his best to take Riza's place. He didn't know half of what he was doing and he certainly didn't like it, but there was nothing else to be done. Hiroko could pretend to be Wojciech at times, call upon her natural instincts, but she wasn't the wolf that he was at the end of the day. Still, while neither of them liked their new position, they still cared about what was going on.

"This doesn't concern you," Shula replied coldly.

Hiroko came to a halt, lowering her head, and growled, "To hell it doesn't."

Shula stopped and reared on them, a snarl at her lips, causing Roy and Havoc to stop as well. Roy was the closest, close enough to touch her, but he didn't dare. He didn't need to be connected to her to be able to read her body language. Anyone that touched her right now was liable to get bitten. And she had an awful bite, judging from the camera that she had ruined just minutes ago.

"You don't know what it's like," Shula said in a low voice.

At this, Hiroko straightened up and cocked an eyebrow. It reminded Roy of Wojciech when he was questioning one of their ideas. "No? Then do explain."

"I have to listen, day in and day out, as people slander not only Roy, but also Riza and even Aidan," Shula said, shaking her head. She began to pace, unable to stop herself, and Roy watched her every move. He felt a little thankful that he couldn't feel her in this moment. He didn't know if he could handle her pain on top of his. "Riza tells Roy to be good, keep his head down, ride through it. Everything will be fine." She swiped at a rock on the ground, making it fly into the street. "What about her though? What about Aidan? What about Atsuko?"

Roy bowed his head. "You know Wojciech will protect them."

"What about Wojciech?" Shula shouted, turning on him. Any other man, even if it was their own daemon, would have flinched and stepped back. Roy didn't. He deserved her anger, after all. "Who protects him? We should be there! We should be with them! To hell with our goals! To hell with this country!"

"That's not what they want and you know it," Roy snapped back.

"And Aidan? Atsuko?" Shula countered, advancing on him. Her shoulders were hunched in the way that suggested she was ready to pounce and attack. Still he didn't back down, even though Hiroko and Havoc take a step back. "You think our stupid, lofty goals of ruling this goddamn country that spit on us mean a damn thing to him?"

Roy didn't know what to say in response to that. Taking his silence as a cue, Shula huffed and turned away from him again. She couldn't stop pacing. Hiroko glanced up at Havoc, who was rubbing the back of his neck. Letting out a sigh, Havoc said, "You know this fighting is what Riza would want."

"You think I don't know that?" Shula asked, each word sounding like a cry.

Roy hasn't heard her sound this upset since Riza was officially discharged. God, he couldn't find her for an entire day after that. She ran out of Central Headquarters and didn't turn up until the next night, sitting pitifully on his doorstep in the rain. He didn't feel a single hint of strain while she was gone and she refused to tell him where she'd been. Hell, she could've gone all the way to Briggs and he wouldn't have known.

Havoc let out a breath. "Shula…"

But the lion daemon could not be brought back. Roy thought, if only for a second, he could feel her pain, if only because he felt the same damn thing, the awful yearning to be with the people he loved.

"I have to sit there, every day, without her there. I don't get to hear Wojciech's warning words to get us to work. I don't get to feel Riza's calming presence. I can't…" Shula shook her head and backed away from them. "I can't even look at Aidan in public. I don't know what I'd do if I did. I have physically pushed Atsuko away from me. What kind of monster does that make me?"

Jumping forward, Hiroko started, "You're not a monster-"

"You've no idea what it's like!" Shula exclaimed. "To know that you feel so strongly for someone and not be able to do anything at all." She looked up at Roy, her eyes so bright and golden brown. Roy thought her eyes looked like fire, even though everyone else thought fire was red. She was fire at its purest though. He had always felt that in her when they were growing up, even before she settled or he learned flame alchemy. "To not _feel_ anything at all."

Silence descended over them. They never talked about the fact that Roy and Shula were severed. Only the team knew, but they kept it to themselves and the two of them were excellent at hiding it in public. Shula never strayed farther from him than what was considered normal, even though they never felt that natural pull towards one another anymore. He reached for her for her comfort even though there was no bond for comfort to flow through any longer. She still brushed up against him and clung to his side during tense situations. Old habits die hard, one might say, but they knew how to play the game.

Sometimes though, sometimes, it hurt even more to hide it. And the truth was that their severing hadn't just hurt them, but also Riza and Wojciech. Now that Aidan and Atsuko were involved, they were learning a whole new part of what they were missing. There was the time when Aiden tripped and cried out, out and Shula didn't notice it at first until she turned around, unable to feel that natural bond between a parent and child. The moment she did and realized that she had stood aside while Riza moved to pick Aidan up, Roy standing uncomfortably aside and unable to do anything, Shula left the room entirely.

"Things will change soon enough," Roy said.

"How long is 'soon enough'?" Shula asked weakly. He'd never heard her sound like this before, like she was tired, absolutely done. Even when they were severed, when he was blinded, when the threat of being discharged hung over them, she never sounded weak or ready to give up. "How long must we suffer?"

"For as long as it takes," Roy told her firmly. He stepped closer and crouched down in front of her. Despite the fact that it didn't bring them the same feeling of comfort before, Roy felt at ease as he dug his fingers into her coat and pressed his head against hers, closing his eyes. She did the same, breathing as he did. For a moment, they were one. How long had it been since they felt like this? God, he missed Shula as much as he did Riza and Aidan, Wojciech and Atsuko, and she was at his side every day. "We made a promise."

"I know," Shula mumbled, "but I wonder sometimes if it's worth it."

"Do you remember what we did in Ishval?'

Shula opened her eyes and pulled away from him. She looked hurt, like he had shot her. "Of course."

"Then you know this is what has to be done."

Pressing her head into his chest, Shula shoved her body against him, nearly knocking him over, like she was trying to force them into one being. "I'm okay with us getting hurt, but them…" She sniffed. "It makes me so furious; I wish I knew flame alchemy so I could burn them all."

Roy chuckled, raising his head to press lay his chin on top of her head as he wrapped his arms around her. "A perfect description of my soul, if I've ever heard one." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For the first time in a very long time, he felt connected with her again. He knew that it wouldn't last - that it was probably just in his head - but he didn't care. He greedily savered the feeling nonetheless. "You have to be better though. You can't lose control like that again. Riza isn't working under me anymore. Who knows what Wojciech might say now that he's off a leash?"

"An hour-long tirade," Shula said.

"Filled with horrendous swears," Hiroko added behind them, unable to stop herself, even as Havoc tried to hush her.

Both Roy and Shula smiled at that, picturing Wojciech hounding them now for their behavior today. He was always so worried about them. Roy missed being able to feel Wojciech's concern when the wolf would gently brush up against him from behind, an unusually plaintive look in his eyes. No one thought that Wojciech was soft, but Roy had seen those moments in him. He treasured them, knew that now those soft moments belonged to Riza and Aidan alone as they worked through this trying time, wanted them so much for himself too.

They would work through this, he and Shula, Riza and Wojciech, the team, his son and his daemon, all of them. There were nights when Roy couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel and Shula would nudge him forward, but he had to remind himself now that they weren't connected that there were times when Shula needed that same guidance. Roy gripped Shula tighter. Together, they would get through this, severing be damned, just as they had done everything else before.

* * *

riza hawkeye - northwestern wolf/northern timber wolf - wojciech (pronounced "VOI-chekh"): means "soldier" + "solace, comfort, joy"  
roy mustang - african lion - shula: means "flame" in arabic  
jean havoc - german shepherd dog - hiroko: means "tolerant, generous," "abundant," and or "prosperous" + "child" in Japanese  
aidan - unsettled - atsuko: means "warm" and/or "deep, true, sincere" + "child"


End file.
